That's Just Stupid!

[Shapley]

The court has sent a signal to the people of California: don’t get involved. If someone’s drowning, don’t jump in the lake and save them. If someone’s trapped in a car that’s about to explode, sit there and watch the show. If you sit on your hands, no one can sue you for all you’re worth.

Valid point. In East St. Louis, IL, several years ago, a man had been upset by teenagers who constatly traveled the road in front of his home at dangerous speeds. When one of the speeding cars lost control and slid down a embankment into a water-filled drainage ditch, he thought "served them right" and went to bed. The next day, police found the vehicle, and the drowned teens. Police questioned the man as to wheter or not he had seen or heard anything. He told them he had, what time the crash had occured, and gave them all the details up to the point the car disappeared beneath the water. They asked why he didn't report it. "Not any of my business" was, if I recall correctly, his response.

Locals were upset that the man hadn't tried to help, or at least called police. They called for him to be arrested, but the police pointed out that he had broken no law. The city council tried to pass a law, ex post facto, in order to prosecute him, but were advised by the State that they couldn't do that. He was never charged nor sued, to the best of my knowledge.

Now, had he tried to help them, who knows what lawsuits he could have been hit with...

[BigJon@Work]

That's just sad, as well as being stupid.

[Haggis@wk]

I lived in Bellville, IL when I was stationed at Scott AFB. East St. Louis was a few miles west of us and I was never comfortable whenever I had to drive through there and would avoid it if at all possible.

Crime there was endemic and the town had the feel of an abandoned town. I can’t believe that anything in the past 12 years would have changed much there.

[Shapley]

I can’t believe that anything in the past 12 years would have changed much there.

Oh, It's changed a lot. It's gotten worse...

[Haggis@wk]

Scientific illiteracy all the rage among the glitterati

Read it all, there are too many good examples to quote just one or two. The level of stupidity displayed by people who are somehow elevated to positions of reverence is, well, stupid.

[piqaboo]

When one of the speeding cars lost control and slid down a embankment into a water-filled drainage ditch, he thought "served them right" and went to bed. The next day, police found the vehicle, and the drowned teens.... They asked why he didn't report it. "Not any of my business" was, if I recall correctly, his response.

Locals were upset that the man hadn't tried to help, or at least called police.

What a nasty nasty man.
An excellent opportunity to apply the ancient art of shunning.

[jamiebk]

When one of the speeding cars lost control and slid down a embankment into a water-filled drainage ditch, he thought "served them right" and went to bed. The next day, police found the vehicle, and the drowned teens.... They asked why he didn't report it. "Not any of my business" was, if I recall correctly, his response.

Locals were upset that the man hadn't tried to help, or at least called police.

What a nasty nasty man.
An excellent opportunity to apply the ancient art of shunning.

It would have been a tragic irony if one of the teenagers was his kid.....

[Haggis@wk]

I decided to post this here because there’s not a thread called “That’s Just Pathetic"

WASHINGTON - Many people like to stop and play with newborn babies, but now some adult women are playing house with fake babies.

Some women are even going as far as taking day trips with the fake babies to the park, out to eat, and even hosting birthday parties for them.

Forty-nine-year-old Linda is married with no children of her own. Now, she says she feels like a mother because she has Reborns — dolls made to look and feel like the real thing.

"It's not a crazy habit, like, you know, drinking, or some sort of, something that's going to hurt you. It's like a hobby and it doesn't really hurt anybody," Linda said.

These women are paying big bucks for this hobby, from $100 to a few thousand dollars. For Reborn owner Lachelle Moore, the fake babies fill a void.

"What's so wonderful about Reborns is that, um, they're forever babies," said Moore, who has grown children and grandchildren. "There's no college tuition, no dirty diapers... just the good part of motherhood," she added.

[dai bread]

Somebody made a movie recently called "Lars and the Real Girl" about a man with a blow-up girl-friend. Naturally, a blow-up baby follows.

[Haggis@wk]

Roland Burris, appointed by scandal-beset governor Rod Blagojevich, is turning out to be—not to put too fine a point on it—a nut.

CHICAGO (AP) — Roland Burris has erected a grand mausoleum for himself, carved with the words “TRAIL BLAZER” and a long list of his accomplishments, with a space left for his more recent achievements. That gap could soon be filled in with “U.S. Senator.”

The tomb is a monument to the ambition — some say egotism — that led him to accept what many regard as a tainted prize: an appointment to the Senate from scandal-ridden Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

“Roland wants an office. It’s another thing to chisel on his Ramses II pyramid,” said Judy Baar Topinka, a former Illinois state treasurer and Republican candidate for governor. She added: “His ego is huge.”

Here’s a photo of the “Trail Blazer” plaque on Roland Burris’ monument to himself.

[jamiebk]

My father was in the "cemetery business" for many years and its not unusual for people to pre-plan one's final resting spot complete with headstone (of course the final date is left off). However, I have never-ever seen such an epitaph as Mr. Burris has created here. Ego indeed! In my experience Ego = Achilles Heel. Usually, people motivated by ego are susceptible to influence by someone or something that effectively feeds that ego. Ultimately, someone will find a way to stroke that ego for gain…if it has not happened already... it will.

[Shapley]

Roland Burris, appointed by scandal-beset governor Rod Blagojevich, is turning out to be—not to put too fine a point on it—a nut.

CHICAGO (AP) — Roland Burris has erected a grand mausoleum for himself, carved with the words “TRAIL BLAZER” and a long list of his accomplishments, with a space left for his more recent achievements. That gap could soon be filled in with “U.S. Senator.”

Afraid he can't add "U.S. Senator" to it, since other African Americans have beat him to the punch. Unless, of course, he expands it to include "first African-American U.S. Senator to be appointed to office by a soon-to-be-impeached corrupt governor in exchange for...."

Hopefully, we'll find out what he offered in exchange for the appointment soon enough. Preferably, before he is seated as a senator.

Looks like we'll have Al Franken and Roland Burris. The Senate is becoming more of a circus than usual. It would be funny if the damage they can do wasn't so real...

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

... The Senate is becoming more of a circus than usual...

Plenty of clowns, plus a whole bunch of sideshow geeks. Wonder if they've got a dancing bear? I love politics....

[piqaboo]

He could add "Nation-wide laughing stock, as a result of appt to US Senate"

[Haggis@wk]

Amber Alerts and the Speed Bumps of Death

Cracked.com—always contrarian, often verging on the libertarian—goes whole hog today, ripping into popular, well-intentioned safety laws that don't work.
They take on speed limits, three-strikes laws ("Gosh, it's almost like we shouldn't rely on sports analogies to build a criminal justice system"), Amber Alerts ("Few things are more dangerously retarded than people in large groups"), sex offender registries ("As it turns out, someone who is willing to abduct, rape and murder a child often isn't stopped by the fact that he'll get put on a 'registry' if he's caught."), and zero tolerance policies at schools.

The asides are often the best bits. Well, that and the stock photos of perfectly innocent yet skeezy looking men captioned as sex offenders:

By the way, even worse than speed limits are speed bumps, the irritating, jarring humps they put in parking lots and such, intended to physically force drivers to slow down and make their CD players skip. Not only do those things not prevent accidents, but they keep ambulances from getting to emergencies, which is exactly the sort of thing you don't want happening when years of bacon sundaes and cookie-dough sandwiches finally catch up with you. The above link references a study in Boulder, Colorado that found speed bumps kill as many as 85 people for every one life they save. Holy s**t! We think landmines have a better ratio.

[piqaboo]

[whine] cant access it from work [/whine]

[Haggis@wk]

Thinking of having a yard sale this weekend? Before you do, be sure to consult CSPC Publication #254 [PDF].
This handy 28-pager from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reminds the American people that, thanks to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the government is totally in charge of your yard sale:

This handbook will help sellers of used products identify types of potentially hazardous products that could harm children or others. CPSC’s laws and regulations apply to anyone who sells or distributes consumer products. This includes thrift stores, consignment stores, charities, and individuals holding yard sales and flea markets.

Selling old kids books, anything with metal, paint, or plastic that a kid might use, old clothes or shoes with metal components that a kid might wear? You know, any of the stuff people routinely sell at yard sales? Technically, you could be on the hook for thousands of dollars worth of fines. Obviously, it's unlikely the CPSA goons are going to bust up your yard sale. But putting out a detailed booklet that reserves the right to do so is hardly encouraging about where the implementation of this legislation is heading.

What next, the curve and length of banana?

[BigJon@Work]

What next, the curve and length of banana?

They can measure the curve and lenght of my banana when they peel my cold, dead hands off of it.

[Haggis@wk]

The Goldwater Institute, in Phoenix commissioned a survey of Arizona high-school students to find out what they know. I will quote from the executive summary (which you can find here):

. . . we surveyed . . . students with questions drawn from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) item bank, which consists of 100 questions given to candidates for United States citizenship. The longstanding practice has been for candidates to take a test on 10 of these items. A minimum of six correct answers is required to pass. The service recently reported a first-try passing rate of 92.4 percent.

The Goldwater Institute survey, conducted by a private survey firm, gave each student 10 items from the USCIS item bank. We grouped results according to the type of school students attend — public, charter, or private. Questions included (1) Who was the first president of the United States? (2) Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? and (3) What ocean is located on the East Coast of the United States?

All three groups of Arizona high school students scored alarmingly low on the test. Only 3.5 percent of Arizona high school students attending public schools passed the citizenship test. The passing rate for charter school students was about twice as high as for public school students. Private school students passed at a rate almost four times higher than public school students.

This does not mean the sky is falling. But the sky should be watched, for signs of national, civilizational apocalypse. (How’s that for non-hysteria?)

Just think of it: 3.5 percent of high-school students passed! That was in the public schools. And the kids in the charter and private schools — not impressively better.

[piqaboo]

Having taken the test, I can tell you questions also include:
what is the electoral college, what is its purpose and how does it work?

I think the writer of the story cherrypicked the questions a little too finely.

My examiner was Not Amused by this exchange:
he - do you think you will pass this test?
me- we better both hope so as I'm an A student and I've had all my education in California public schools.

I think that may have influenced his choice of questions.